1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a deviation correcting system and process for detecting scanning deviation during operation of scanners and, more particularly, to a process and system for correcting deviation during scanning in a scanner being operated in a multi-tasking system, by controlling the number of slices to correct deviation of scanned data.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Multimedia systems that are driven to present combinations of moving and still pictures, sound, music and words, are pervasive in the industrialized world, especially in computers or in other entertainment appliances. Concurrent with the development of a multimedia computer systems, peripheral equipment including image formation equipment such as printers, have been incrementally modified to provide various functions. A multi-tasking system, employing an ink-jet mechanism and serving as a facsimile and scanner, will typically be coupled to an external personal computer that performs a user-selected program and generates print data. The multi-tasking system will typically either receive data from the personal computer or scan data printed on the exposed surface of one or more documents. Conventional multi-tasking systems include a scanner such as a laser flatbed or sheetfed scanner, for reading information borne by a document by scanning the document. With a sheetfed laser scanner, the scanner remains in a fixed state while the document bearing the information is moved in a vertical direction during laser scanning of its exposed surface. With a flatbed laser scanner, a laser beam is swept across a flat plate by the scanner modulated by video signals from a similar reading system or by digital signals generated by a computer.
Exemplars of recent efforts in the art include U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,337 to Mamberer et al., entitled Zonal Ink Distribution Measuring Method And System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,413 to Ferris et al., entitled Machine-Interpretable Figural Response Testing, U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,663 to Earl et al., entitled Image Processing System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,774 to Kikuchi, entitled Testing Device For Electrophotographic Imaging Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,543 to Yoshida, entitled Digital Data Reader Of Digital Data Recording Sheet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,165 to Rushing et al., entitled Scanner As Test Print Densitometer For Compensating Overall Process Drift And Nonuniformity, U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,409 to Yeh et al., entitled Image Shifting System For Use In A Document Processing System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,105 to Katayama et al., entitled Method Of And Apparatus For Recording On And Reproducing From Disk-Type Recording Medium Having Recording Tracks With Sectors Each Having An ID Area And A Data Area, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,658 to Gerety, entitled Method Of Aligning One Dimensional Or Two Dimensional Codes To Printer Pixels.
The size of the multi-tasking system is increased by the addition of a sheetfed laser scanner. With the sheetfed laser scanners in common use, the scanning speed drops during continuous scanning. There have been proposals in the art for a shuttle scanner module. That is, the shuttle scanner module is mounted on one side of an ink-jet print head for an ink-jet printer, thus reducing the overall size of the multi-tasking system. The shuttle scanner module scans the document containing the information by dividing the text borne by the document into given bands in an effort to enhance the scanning speed. For an A4 size document for example, the shuttle scanner module divides the document into twenty-four bands for scanning. When the multi-tasking system that uses a shuttle scanner module divides the information borne by the document into predetermined bands, the image data is segregated into discrete blocks. We have noticed that the occurrence of discontinuities in the blocked image data deteriorates the print quality.